Puget Sound

[Stonedfish]

Gosh now that you guys are talking about it it does have a topside that’s rather blueish/green with spotting unlike my other Coho catches. It looks more like a pink than a coho as I look at it more.

If it is the first pink of the season, congrats!
Make sure to check your mailbox. The royalty checks that will soon be rolling in from Sportco and Outdoor Emporium due to a huge spike in pink buzz bomb sales due to your report.
SF

 

[Wanative]

Got out to the Gig Harbor side on the way home. Harbor porpoises, s and a couple young eagles fishing it was quite the wildlife display. And on the walk back I was encouraged to come see a red headed woodpecker by a bird watcher to top it all off.
View attachment 64555
Went 1 for 3 with the landed resident at a little over a pound, say 1.5, and one of the lost coho in the 2lb range. Forgot my net doh! Tons of grass and various foliage that fish were surfacing in.
View attachment 64556
A weighted squimp was the goto with the 3wt today.

100% a pink salmon. The scales size is proof.
Compare to the scales size on this resident coho @Jisabi posted previously. The scales are much larger.

 

[Divad]

Wow in May?! I’m trying to find info on a resident population of pinks or maybe a very early arrival.

On another note, how far can a seal sense a fish in distress? I fished the beach for 45 min w/o seeing one then when I landed that fish after a lot of commotion a seal showed up and the bites vanished.

 

[SeaRunner]

There used to be resident pinks in the South Sound. It seems like they disappeared over the years but I recall seeing reports of a few last cycle (2021). I agree that it looks like a pink.

 

[Scudley Do Right]

We got an even year pink a little bigger than that maybe 7 years ago mooching at no point.

 

[Chucker]

Certainly looks like a humpy to me. Congratulations on being the one who got it rolling this year!

 

[Vandelay Industries]

A sharpie should work, but you may need at mark it again after some use as the marks may fade.
How many feet do you plan to go between marks?
SF

I am planning on marking every ten feet, as that seems like a reasonable interval.

That is ok if it fades. It is not difficult to redo the marks.

 

[Brian Miller]

A sharpie should work, but you may need at mark it again after some use as the marks may fade.
How many feet do you plan to go between marks?
SF

My silver Sharpie marks at 10' intervals faded pretty quickly and though they looked great in the garage when I did them were hard to see while fishing on very dark olive and grey sinking lines. I'm going to try fluorescent permanent Sharpies or acrylic markers.

 

[Stonedfish]

My silver Sharpie marks at 10' intervals faded pretty quickly and though they looked great in the garage when I did them were hard to see while fishing on very dark olive and grey sinking lines. I'm going to try fluorescent permanent Sharpies or acrylic markers.

I bought a set of cheap acrylic markers off Amazon to mark up flies. They’ve worked pretty good so far but I need to test them some more as far as fading goes.
@Vandelay Industries if you want to try them on your line for the sharpie vs acrylic challenge , you are welcome to borrow some of the colors you might need.
SF

 

[Greg Armstrong]

Wow in May?! I’m trying to find info on a resident population of pinks or maybe a very early arrival.

On another note, how far can a seal sense a fish in distress? I fished the beach for 45 min w/o seeing one then when I landed that fish after a lot of commotion a seal showed up and the bites vanished.

Those small ones are known as a Halfahumpy.

 

[Stonedfish]

Those small ones are known as a Halfahumpy.

It would be interesting to know the life history of that fish. How old it is, the stream it originated from, why it took up being a resident etc. Humpy Knowledge 101….
SF

 

[Vandelay Industries]

My silver Sharpie marks at 10' intervals faded pretty quickly and though they looked great in the garage when I did them were hard to see while fishing on very dark olive and grey sinking lines. I'm going to try fluorescent permanent Sharpies or acrylic markers.

Good info to know. I was thinking about the Sharpie Extreme markers and might try them out first. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Vandelay Industries]

I bought a set of cheap acrylic markers off Amazon to mark up flies. They’ve worked pretty good so far but I need to test them some more as far as fading goes.
@Vandelay Industries if you want to try them on your line for the sharpie vs acrylic challenge , you are welcome to borrow some of the colors you might need.
SF

I might take you up on that offer. I'm going to buy some Sharpie Extreme markers. It would be interesting to alternate marks and see what happens.

 

[Smalma]

I agree that Divad's fish is indeed a pink. Yes historically resident pinks were fairly common in Puget Sound with the fishery centering in MA 11. That fishery seemed to collapse in the mid-1950s. Interestedly some of those MA 11 fish were Stillaguamish fish. For at least the last 3 cycles there have been a few of those resident pinks caught in the early summer MA 10 resident coho fishery. The Snohomish has had a small population of even year pinks with the run peaking in 2004 when nearly 140,000 spawned. These even pinks tend to return early in the year (July) than the old year fish and as result tend to be smaller.

Yes ling cod can be caught with flies in Puget Sound. I have successfully targeted them over the last 30 years in MA 7, MA 9, and MA 10. I used "Yak hair" flies in that 7 to 9 inch range. I fished unweight flies allowing my lines (home made lines with T 14) to achieve the desired depth.; my limit was about 50 deep. Most successful color combination was chartreuse over white though brown and tan, black, and brown and orange also consistently produced fish.

Yes bull trout are indeed found in Puget Sound. They are most numerous in North Puget on beaches between Point Roberts south to Seattle. The Skagit supports by far the most robust population with lesser numbers found in the Nooksack, Snohomish, and Stillaguamish. The article section of this site has bull series that discusses this behavior (a shameless plug).

Curt

 

[SKYKO]

Carrying on the pinks in the salt theme, these are tied on a gamakatsu SS15 in size 10 are they too small or OK with larger patterns mixed in?
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Vandelay Industries]

Carrying on the pinks in the salt theme, these are tied on a gamakatsu SS15 in size 10 are they too small or OK with larger patterns mixed in?
Thanks for the feedback.View attachment 64681

Those will work. There are times when smaller flies work more than larger ones. It is good to have a variety of sizes.

 

[Stonedfish]

Carrying on the pinks in the salt theme, these are tied on a gamakatsu SS15 in size 10 are they too small or OK with larger patterns mixed in?
Thanks for the feedback.View attachment 64681

Those will also catch coho. Nice ties.
SF

 

[Stonedfish]

Replica of an odd year humpy / sockeye / chum hybrid I caught on a size 12 euphausiids.
SF

 

[Wanative]

It would be interesting to know the life history of that fish. How old it is, the stream it originated from, why it took up being a resident etc. Humpy Knowledge 101….
SF

Is your heart softened toward the cute little local humpie?

 

[Stonedfish]

Is your heart softened toward the cute little local humpie?

You mean the cute little local humpy that couldn't? Word is out on PinkHumpy.net about the first landing!
Sand Panko futures are skyrocketing.
SF